Lisa Stewart was walking her seven-year-old English Bulldog Gracie along 53rd Ave in Vancouver when a two-year-old pit bull got loose, grabbed Gracie and wasn't letting go.
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| RIP Gracie |
"The dog was instantly right on the back of her neck," Stewart explained.
"The dog pulled Gracie right onto the gravel. I come out and grab the wooden outdoor broom. One hit with the broom, broom brakes, dog didn't even flinch," said Lisa's husband Troy. "Just took my thumbs and gouged them as hard as I could into the eyes of the pit bull, thinking something will stop this thing and it wouldn't stop. It didn't stop. It didn't stop."
It didn't stop for 30 agonizing minutes.
"Our big, heavy dog was almost dead, and I was in complete shock," said Lisa. As the family's twin six-year-olds watched in horror as their father tried everything. "All of a sudden, Gracie my dog just rolled over on her back," Lisa said.
"I expected that Monday morning when animal control was contacted that the dog would be taken immediately." But it wasn't and it didn't happen for a month.
Fast forward to Saturday when Clark County Animal Control finally said the pit bull owners had to give their dog away to a shelter or friends living outside city lines.
"We wanted to keep the dog, we love him. It was an unfortunate accident is what it was," said pit bull owner Maryanne Bigelow.
There is a major discrepancy in the laws between the city of Vancouver and Clark County involving aggressive dogs. If this attack would have happened in the county, the same animal control officers could have given the pit bull owners two options: much steeper penalties or have the dog euthanized.
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| "It was an unfortunate accident" says the owner whose pit bull spent 30 minutes mauling and killing its victim |
But in the city, "We only have the ability to say we don't want the dog in the city limits," explained Animal Control Manager Paul Scarpelli, who said the rules don't go far enough. "I think the city council is interested in seeing a change as well."
On Wednesday, Scarpelli told KGW the pit bull owners agreed to have the animal euthanized.
(KGW - August 22, 2012)
